ILOG Rules for .NET User Guides > ILOG Rule Team Server for SharePoint > Structure of Decision Tables

Structure of Decision Tables

Decision tables provide an alternative and more convenient way of viewing and managing large sets of similar business rules.

Decision tables are composed of rows and columns: each row corresponds to a single rule, with the columns defining the conditions and actions that apply to the rules:

The column structure of a decision table is established when creating the table. You cannot create a new decision table or alter its column structure. This is done in ILOG Rule Studio for .NET.

You can add new rows to a decision table and fill in its cells to create new rules. When the conditions of a given row are met, the actions in that row are performed. It is also possible to add preconditions that apply to all the rules, as explained in section Preconditions.

Although decision tables are intuitive to use, new users may want to consult sections Columns and Rows and Cells to understand some of the more subtle aspects of decision tables.

In addition to providing an editing environment more appropriate for large sets of similar rules, decision tables also make it easy to see whether you have taken all possible cases into account. Decision tables offer extra checking features to help you with this, as described in section Editing Rules in Decision Tables (section Decision Table Errors).

Structure of Decision Tables

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